It was not long ago that a long-hitting Spaniard by the name of Alvaro Quiros was considered among the best players on the international golf scene.

 
The 34-year-old won seven events between 2006 and 2011, reaching as high as No. 21 in the world. He has struggled badly since 2011, however, with no wins from 2012-2016, and he no longer qualifies for the PGA majors that he used to be a fixture at.

All that changed this past weekend, however, as Quiros emphatically ended his slump with a victory at the Rocco Forte Open, a European Tour event.

Bullets

• Quiros won in a playoff over Zander Lombard, after blowing a five-shot Sunday lead in regulation
• With the victory, Quiros skyrocketed from No. 703 to 237 in the world rankings
• Quiros had missed four straight cuts before a T22 in his last start before the victory in Siciliy. At one stretch in 2016, he had missed 11 of 14 cuts.
• Quiros averaged over 300 yards per drive for five straight years at his peak.

Quotable

“I’m very happy. Obviously it shouldn’t be like that but at the end it’s a victory and that’s the most important thing. It’s been a little bit of a mess.The game wasn’t that bad. Just the last few holes I started to struggle with the wind left to right and he was playing nice, Pep was playing nice too.”
–Alvaro Quiros, after his Rocco Forte Open victory

This post appeared originally as part of the Daily Rundown.